The mountain wind pulled at the tent fabric and the map showed an unmarked section of trail — just a question mark pencilled in. Emma Holm was somewhere in the Swedish mountain range, weeks into her solo hike of Gröna bandet, and there was no direction but forward.
That she was there at all was not a lifelong plan. Emma, a psychology student at Umeå University, had grown up in Örebro — far from the mountains. But childhood had laid a quiet foundation: family life in the countryside, forest behind the house, outdoor life that was never anything unusual.
The idea that grew slowly
Her mountain hiking interest started at nineteen. In summer 2021 she walked Kungsleden — a trip she extended spontaneously from Hemavan all the way to Abisko. 22 days she describes as pure happiness. Along the way she met her partner. And there, she met for the first time someone hiking Gröna bandet. Her reaction? Not admiration — surprise. It sounded insane, something she neither wanted nor thought she could do.
Ideas like that have a way of ripening quietly. Then came Easter 2023. She'd applied for summer jobs at mountain stations without hearing back. Everyone around her was talking about summer work. But Emma didn't want to work away her summers. Suddenly the horizon collapsed from "maybe 2025 or 2027" to "I've got nothing to do these months anyway — I'll just go."
Take the decision first
One of Emma's key insights: don't let the obstacles stop the decision. "You just go for it, and the obstacles come later — and then you deal with them. When it comes to making the decision, I try not to think too much."
And the obstacles did come. The route included sections without trail markers — something that frightened someone who likes to know what lies ahead. She recognised her pattern of doubt: "Almost regardless of how long the trip is, I get incredibly cold feet in the last few days. I want to cancel everything. But I know that feeling will come — so it's easy to work against it."
Living cheap to live fully
The finances were solved through discipline. As a student without a summer job for three years running, Emma lived frugally: second-hand clothes, batch-cooked meals, borrowed textbooks. "I live very cheaply during term time so I can live fully in the summers. My summer job is budgeting hard during the year."
Four days from the finish — helicopter
Just four days from Treriksröset, after 58 days of hiking, Emma contracted nephropathia epidemica — a rare rodent-borne fever. She was evacuated by helicopter, spent time in hospital, and weeks recovering at home.
But she went back. In October, she returned to the mountains and walked the final four days alone, finishing what she had started.
Four days from the end. Helicopter. Hospital. And she came back anyway.
The question isn't whether you have the right conditions. The question is: what are you waiting for?
